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Blue Shark

Blue Shark (Prionace glauca) Fish Description

The Blue Shark, considered one of the most beautiful among the shark species, is torpedo-shaped (fusiform) which allows them to cut through the water at insane speeds. Its name comes from its body being a deep blue which slowly turns white as it reaches its underbelly. A Blue Shark’s body is counter-shaded, meaning both its top and backside are colored in a way to make sure predators don’t get it. Despite being part of a group of Apex Predators, Blue Sharks are often attacked by Killer Whales and can be bullied by dolphins.

Like all sharks, a Blue Shark has a single dorsal fin which is essential for its balance in the water. It has a pair of matching pectoral fins. Blue Sharks have a deeply forked tail fin with two anal fins at the bottom with a smaller fin on top. Near their heads, they have deep ridges that serve as their gills. They also have long snouts which they use to detect blood from vast distances. 
 

Blue Shark Diet

Blue Sharks are carnivorous but curiously prefer a more piscine diet. They love eating tuna from which they get their calcium from. Blue sharks also feast on crabs, lobsters, cuttlefish, and squid. At times, if there’s an unlucky seagull, it’ll eat that too. Their triangular teeth allow them to shred through their prey while their torpedo-shaped body is made to catch up with them.
 

Blue Shark Size

Blue Sharks can grow quite big. Male Blue Sharks can weigh 60 to 121 lbs whereas females can weigh from 205 lbs to 401 lbs. On average, a Blue Shark can grow between 7.2 ft to 10.8 ft. However, there were some cases where Blue Sharks can grow up to 12 ft.
 

Interesting Facts about the Blue Shark

• Sadly, the Blue Shark often gets a bad reputation for attacking humans because of its Great White cousin.
  • Over the years, there have been only reported 13 attacks in which 4 have been reported fatal.
• The Blue Shark, because of its curious nature, has made it susceptible to finning.
  • Finning is when anglers cut off the fins of the shark and throw the Blue Shark back into the sea, leaving them to drown to death.
    • Many organizations often tried to stop finning but to no avail. Some still illegally fish for shark's fin due to the high demand for shark’s fin in Chinese cuisine.
  • The Blue Shark is only one of the many species that get finned for Shark’s Fin Dumpling and Soup. Other species include Blacktip, Hammerhead, Porbeagle, Spinner, Mako, Sandbar, and the Bull.
• Blue Sharks are even attacked by their own cousins.
• Unlike other fish, Blue Sharks give birth to live young. They usually have 135 pups a litter, assuming they don’t cannibalize each other in the womb first.
• Blue Sharks are susceptible to parasites especially when they eat Opah or a Longnosed Lancefish.
• To tell the difference, female Blue Sharks often have a bite on their dorsal fin as a result of mating.
   

Blue Shark – Fishing Techniques: How to Fish for a Blue Shark

Blue Sharks are often caught via drift fishing. And just like movies, they use something called chum as bait. Chum is composed of different kinds of fish like mackerel, herring, squid, sardines, tuna, or any other small fish which is then mashed up until it looks like porridge. 

When setting up your line, don’t keep it too close to your ship. You don’t want a Blue Shark suddenly jumping on board! Blue Sharks especially in a frenzy and panic can still destroy things not by chomping but by going in for a body-slam using its weight. Some recommend keeping your line at least 20 feet away so that you can still lead the Blue Shark.

The matter is, a Blue Shark is still a shark. And like a shark, it’s still an apex predator. It isn’t dumb just to bite. But the presence of bloody chum (made from its favorite fish) will have it going nuts. Lead the Blue Shark carefully while keeping the line a good distance away from your boat. Once it snaps onto the bait, slowly reel it in. Make sure your line can withstand at least 200 lbs. If your line breaks, it’s either you caught a large one or you may be reeling in its much angrier cousin who won’t be pleased to find out that it’s got a hook in its jaw.
 

Blue Shark Habitat and Distribution

Like most sharks, Blue Sharks have a preference for warm to cooler waters. They usually swim around the deeper depths where they can find a feast of squid swimming around. Blue Sharks usually swim at around 1,150 ft and often migrate. Some people have sighted Blue Sharks in Norway and Chile. But most of the time, Blue Sharks can be found in places except Antarctica. These sharks have a preference for waters at room temperature – around 12 to 20 degrees Celsius (54-68 degrees Fahrenheit).

Shortfin Mako Shark

Shortfin Mako Shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) Fish Description

The Shortfin Mako Shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) is a mackerel shark found in almost all oceans in the world. Much like its popular relative, like the Great White, this shark is an aggressive predator that is even known to attack humans. Although this shark is known to be one of the most dangerous shark species, the Shortfin Mako Shark is a sought-after gamefish because not only is it a challenging fish to catch, its meat is said to be quite tasty. One particular part of this shark that makes it widely hunted by both recreational and commercial fishers all over the world is its fins, which are used to make shark fin soup.

The Shortfin Mako Shark can easily be distinguished through its rather pointy snouts and long gill slits. Its color tends to be dark blue to gray on the top part; its sides are slightly metallic with a tinge of blue, and the belly is white. It has many similarities to its close cousin, the Longfin Mako, but as its name suggests, its pectoral fins are significantly shorter and its eyes are slightly smaller. 

As earlier mentioned, the Shortfin Mako is one of the most aggressive predatory sharks out there. They hunt for food most of their lives (except of course during mating season), eating pretty much anything they happen to run into, including tunas, billfish, squids, dolphins, mackerels, sea turtles, as well as other shark species. And if not for humans and the much bigger Great White Shark, the Shortfin Mako Shark wouldn’t have to worry about anything eating them in the ocean.

Shortfin Mako Shark Interesting Facts

• The biggest Shortfin Mako Shark ever caught using reel-and rod weighs one thousand three hundred pounds.
• The enormous shark was caught off the coast of California way back in 2013.
• The longest, however, was more than fourteen feet long and caught in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of France.
• The Shortfin Mako Shark is the second biggest mackerel shark.
• This shark is the fastest shark species in the world.
• The name “Mako” came from the Maori word for shark or shark tooth.
• Their teeth are often made into necklaces and earrings worn in traditional Maori culture.
• This shark is mainly targeted by commercial fishers for its tasty meat.
• Recreational fishers target Mako sharks as they are known to be quite a challenge to catch.
• The shark was featured in one of Ernest Hemingway’s novels, The Old Man and the Sea.
• Their speed and power make them one of the apex predators in the ocean.
• A recent study has shown them to be one of the most intelligent creatures in the ocean.
• They are aggressive and one of the most dangerous sharks in the world, known to attack even humans.
• Attacks on humans, however, often happen when they are provoked, especially when anglers are trying to land a hooked Shortfin Mako Shark.
• Shortfin Mako Sharks are known to be tenacious fighters when hooked—they even tend to jump into boats, causing injury to humans and damage to boats.
• The Shortfin Mako Shark can leap as high as twenty feet out of the water.
• Because of the overfishing of the species, their populations have declined significantly over the past few decades.
• Fishing restrictions and regulations have been placed by authorities to ensure the shark is not overfished.
• Permits are also required for Shortfin Mako Shark fishing. 

Shortfin Mako Shark Size and Swimming Speed

The Shortfin Mako Shark is a fairly large shark. Even though it is much smaller compared to Great Whites, this shark can grow at an average of thirteen feet in length, usually weighing between one hundred thirty to three hundred pounds.

Aside from its size, the Shortfin Mako Shark is a fast swimmer. It’s possibly the fastest shark species in the world as it can clock at least thirty miles per hour—with some reports, though unverified, saying it can swim as fast as sixty miles per hour.

Shortfin Mako Shark Habitat and Distribution

The Shortfin Mako Shark can be found pretty much anywhere in the world. This is because they are highly migratory and they can cover vast distances in short periods of time given their power, endurance, and speed. Furthermore, they can also adapt well to most water temperatures—except in really cold waters—as they are partially warm-blooded. This means that you can find them in both the Atlantic and the Pacific sides of the US, with the waters off the coast of San Diego, Florida Keys, and the Gulf of Mexico being known as hotspots for fishing.

They are often seen in the open waters, preferring to swim near the surface most of the time. However, they also dive deeper into the ocean exceeding four hundred feet in depth from time to time—probably when they couldn’t find food near the surface.  

Shortfin Mako Shark Fishing Tips

Finding and hooking a Shortfin Mako Shark isn’t going to be much of a problem given their pretty wide range as well as their aggressiveness. If you’re having a problem finding one in a known Mako fishing site, you can employ chumming or a simple live bait rigging to get them to notice you. Some anglers even do a bit of high-speed trolling to get these sharks attracted to the bait. For chumming, you can use a lot of grounded mix of mackerel and tuna. For bait, you can use live squid, tuna, or bluefish, although the latter is said to be the most effective.

For the gear, a fish of this size, power, and tenacity requires at least a 50lb class rod and reel, equipped with heavy wire leaders and circle hooks. Make sure to use a heavy-duty line that can handle the fish’s ability to pull hard. Lastly, keep in mind that this shark is highly intelligent and will give you a hard time reeling it in by using just about anything to get away—including your boat! So if ever you hook one, expect it to use the boat to snap your line by circling it or even jump onto the boat as they try to take a bite at anything they could get a-hold of. So be extra careful when you’re targeting these monsters.

Thresher Shark

Thresher Shark (Alopias vulpinus) Fish Description

The Thresher Shark is a popular saltwater gamefish that is mainly found in the open oceans. It is blue-grey in color and it is known for its long tail that can be as long as its body. It is part of the mackerel family, large species of sharks that includes the Great White Shark. 

The thresher shark is a carnivorous fish that feeds on a variety of prey – from smaller fishes like mackerel, bluefish, herring, and needlefish to predatory fishes like the lancetfish. They even eat deep-dwelling fish like the lantern fish. They also feed on invertebrates such as squids and crustaceans like crabs. 

Interesting Facts About the Thresher Shark 

• They’re a sight to see with their long tails and are known to sometimes leap out of the water.
• Thresher sharks use their long long tails to whip to stun their prey and then eat them. The whip-like motion is so strong that it is believed to separate oxygen and hydrogen in the water. The estimated force of their attack is 50mph.
• They are mostly solitary fishes but they would sometimes congregate to prey on schools of fish to increase their hunting chances.

Thresher Shark Size and Speed

The thresher shark is a large apex predator and is prized for its fighting prowess, making it one of the best fish to catch as an angler. They burst at speeds of 30 mph and are estimated to get as big as 20 feet long and weigh 1120 lbs. The average size of this large fish is 16 feet and weighs 510 lbs.

Habitat and Distribution of the Common Thresher Shark

The common thresher shark thrives in the pelagic waters of continental shelves, around 40 - 50 miles away from shore with depths of shallow waters up to 2100 feet but sometimes inshore waters too. They prefer temperatures of 60-70°F.

They are highly migratory species and are scatted around the world. In North America, they migrate from north to south. They can be found in both the western Atlantic and the eastern Pacific oceans. Fishing spots are in the Gulf of California, New York, Vancouver Islands, Washington, Oregon, and as far as the Hawaiian Islands. The best time to catch them in California is during late spring to fall and late summer in Washington.

Fishing Strategies for the Common Thresher Shark

The thresher shark is a rare powerful fish that is sought after by anglers. There are different ways to catch the common thresher shark. The common ways are trolling or cast and reel. Through fish trolling, set the lure to sink between 25-50 feet (use a 16 oz. sinker to get to these depths). Look for bait balls where the shark might be hunting and slowly let your boat drift around 2-4 knots and wait for a bite. You can also fish from inshore via the cast and reel method with the same techniques.

Recommended equipment for this strong fish is a  heavy rod from 12-15 weight and is 7 ½ to 8 feet in length with 50 to 80 lb braid. Thresher sharks have small mouths and teeth despite being large fishes, so use strong 8/0 hooks with 8-10 feet leader of multiple braids to prevent the line from breaking. 

The usual baits for the common thresher sharks are mackerel or sardines. For lures, anglers have had success using marlin lures.